There was nothing to do today. Rose sat awkwardly in her alcove, she'd had a good cry about an hour back, stress and sleep deprivation would set anyone on a one way track to loons-ville pretty quick. Rubbing her grubby hand across her cheeks, just to be sure there were no trails in the dirt on her face, Rose traced her finger around the bottle of aspirin. She hiccupped, her head jerking with the momentary constriction in her throat. No one had tugged her around, the dining hall had been emptied of the dead at some point. The only odd thing was a large number of spiders had begun bustling about, their hulking forms came in an earthy range of colors, not a single as vibrant as the Empress or as deep a red as the Doctor. An oddly coloured one that was blue-black with yellow joints had been the only one she had noticed that didn't vary in a shade of grey, brown, or dark green.

She felt the vibrations through the floor, there was another Racnoss coming. Rose slipped into her nest, unsure if she wanted to be forgotten, or try to get one of the spiders to talk. Although she knew she ought to buck up, the Doctor would get them out of this, she was oddly numb after her bout of tears.

A relatively smallish deep grey spider with brown around the tips of her legs scuttled up to the nest and stopped. Rose lifted her head, and hesitantly looked out. It was a female, her face a bit more rounded than Rose had seen before, and the spideress motioned with her claw. "Time to come, no more rest." Her voice was deeper than Rose had expected, and she had the natural hiss that came from speaking around a mouthful of fangs.

Rose crawled out of the nest, tucking the bottle back into her waist pocket without being too noticeable about it. "You got something heavy need hauling?" Rose asked with a bit more attitude than she'd expected, it had come out far more challenging than had been planned. But, the spideress seemed to take no offense.

Leaning down, the grey spider snapped the webbing with a jab of her long leg into the ground. "Come now." With no further explanation, which was something Rose was getting used to, having been nudged around by Bertok for what seemed like forever. She assumed the place between the woman spider's legs and was lead to the 'shower' room again.

Rose trained her eyes upwards, and the spideress nodded, nudging her into the water. Rose stripped down, stumbling to keep from slipping to the slick packed-mud floor. She snatched the bottle from her discarded clothes and pressed it into her palm. She felt the fresh water splatter through her grimey hair and she glanced out to see if the female spider was still there. She was. But now, she had a webbing basket hooked over her front leg. With a whip of her leg, the contents of the webbing carrier spilled out. A huge block of what looked to be soap, a brush that looked like an oversized toothbrush without a handle and a long thin vial of something vaguely pink. Rose didn't know what that was, but she knew soap when she saw it. Rather than trying to haul the enormous block into her hands, she set the bottle flat down behind the soap and rubbed her hands against it until there was lather. She brought it up to her hair, scrubbing the greasy scalp that hadn't been properly clean in nearing a month. Rose felt the crust of dirt break away, and then she began working at the knots, finally managing to get her hair into something brushable, she took the brush in both hands, and began running it down her wet hair a few times before scrubbing at her body.

After what seemed like a wonderfully unbroken hour, Rose had nothing more she could possibly do, and there had been no move to stop her. Her fingernails were cleaned underneath, inside her ears, the crease behind her kneecaps. She finally turned her attention back to the spider that must have been told to guard her. The grey-brown spideress was in soft conversation with a larger boxy looking olive green male. His eyes flickered to her, and obviously having no sense of shame, blinked casually back to the little spideress. He motioned his head down the tunnel and left.

Rose stood dripping wet, and waited for something further to be done. The tiny spideress held three long strips of dark fabric out on her pointed limb. Rose took them, and realized she wasn't getting a towel. She wrung her hair out as best she could and wrapped the thin dark fabric around her chest a few times, before bringing it up and tying it behind her neck. Another long strip she managed to make some sort of short-like pants and then the larger strip she used as a skirt, to be sure that she was completely covered when she worked. These seemed far less practical then the basic one-piece clothing she'd been given last time. But, she was glad for any change of clothes. Rose reached back into the water, and while grabbing the vial, also slipped the bottle into a particular hip area of her shorts that she'd left looser to accommodate its size. It slipped in with little resistance and felt secure enough that she stood up without concern for it slipping out. Holding up the crystal looking vial, she shook it. "What's this for, then?"

"It is to make you less repulsive." The honest truth seemed to be all that Rose was expected to need. Hesitantly, Rose popped the cork cap off and sniffed it. It was a vaguely spicy smell, but too bland to be of much notice to her. Not seeing it as worth a fight over how much she smelled, Rose tipped it and let it run down her arm, and then brushed her arms together.

"Right." Waiting for some sort of explanation or command, Rose was only nudged with the thin leg, bringing her to the position in-front that Rose had grown rather comfortable with. She was lead down a long hall, being bumped and shoved and constantly herded, as if she was a sheep that might just stop or wander into a wall. Holding back a snide comment, Rose let herself be constantly poked and touched by the cold leg.

The flickering lights on the walls grew brighter and closer together. The floor became a pebbled path, the walls were covered in a musty smelling plush moss. It was almost beautiful in a sort of fairy-mound way. Tiny pale flowers sprouted and leaned towards the white luminescence. Rose felt a bit surreal, as if the slimy walls she'd been surrounded by had become a glistening castle. They hadn't, but the simple beauty of the moss and randomly spread flowers made her feel a bit like Alice, wandering into some sort of a world she never could have imagined. She'd never fancied that book, or the movie, too weird for her tastes. Besides, that purple cat with the spinning head and scary grin had made her cry as a child. Jackie had had to completely remove the movie and case from the flat before Rose would calm down.

Jackie. Rose's lips quirked, and she thought about her chattery, ever concerned, Mum. She was the only stable thing Rose had had her entire life, and now she had to wonder if Jackie would ever give up hoping she'd come back. And Mickey, the stupid and sweet boy that she said she loved but never really was intrigued by. What you saw with Mickey was all you got, and Rose had found that his unwavering love was cute but drowning. It was as if he had nothing else to him, and she had found herself still dating him while completely disillusioned.

There were bits of ivy on the walls now, and Rose realized they were approaching a room at the end of the tunnel.

Rose passed out of the hall, and stood in a huge room that glittered with reflective crystals and lights swayed on the ceiling, illuminating the thick moss that was sprayed with a thin dewy substance. The pale flowers abounded here, spreading and flourishing in the corners especially. This room was as big as two football fields, and she stared at the simplistic beauty. It was very much like she would imagine a fairy throne room. Her eyes drifted to the far end, she was not so far off in one aspect. It was a throne room. But it was not for the fair folk. A long limbed, glistening spider sat on a mound of soft moss. Rose could only just make her out, but she knew by the coloring that she had entered the Empress's haunting grounds. Nudged forward, Rose began walking, it took a moment, as she was distracted by the feeling the perfectly rounded pebbles under her toes, before Rose realized she had not been pushed or herded in a while. She glanced back, the deep grey-brown spider was retreating down the long hall, and Rose was left on her own.

Walking quickly, and trying to bring herself to some sort of proud stance, Rose placed each foot carefully before taking another step. She approached the throne over the course of a few minutes of quick strides.

The huge shimmering Empress looked down at her with her many dark eyes. "You are the one called Rose? I heard of your hard work. I find that you have strength which I did not expect. I find you please me." The Racnoss Empress smiled, as charming a smile as a spider might ever produce, and Rose immediately thought of that scary cat from Alice in Wonderland. Some things were simply not meant to grin. "Sit before me, little maiden."

Rose wondered if it would do her any good to be defiant. She certainly stood no chance of making it to the exit without being snatched from behind. Slowly, carefully, Rose settled into the stones on the floor and stared up at the smirking face of the Queen.

"You please me, there are too many stupid creatures in my realm. You are clever, loyal, and you take on your tasks with no complaints though impossible they may be. As you do so please me, I will allow you a choice of honors." Taking her regal time, which apparently was not something she liked to hurry along, the Empress finally spoke. "You may attempt to be converted to a maid in my own personal rapport of servants, or you may be served as a meal in the royal dining chamber this evening."

Rose blinked, feeling stupid as she couldn't quite allow herself to believe what she was hearing. "You want me to…that or eaten… well, isn't much of a choice. I'd rather die." The gravity of her statement settled in, it was on her life, it was honestly on her very life.

"You were given a rare privilege of having a choice in the matter. But I am sure you will be as sweet as you are out-spoken. Take the ugly thing away." With a dismissive wave, the Empress simply no longer seemed to have any interest as to whether Rose existed or not. Her wondering as to whom the Empress was talking to only lasted a moment, a pale grey spider dropped from the ceiling and began the time tested process of driving her out the door with his sticky legs. Rose felt numb again, she didn't know where the Doctor was, whether he was even in his right mind anymore, and if they had any chance of escaping this. Honestly and properly feeling a cold pit of frightened resolve in her gut, Rose left the room. She wasn't about to give up, this resolve was to put things right. She was going to find the Doctor and get him onto the TARDIS. His stupid plan be stuffed up the Empress's nose, this was going to be the end of it. He obviously hadn't been in his right mind and she would have to take over making the choices for a bit.

As she walked down the hall, she tried to remember how to get to that chamber where she had last seen him. The halls seemed to all look the same, and she knew she stood no chance of finding his room. She'd have to make a run for it and hope luck favored her.

As they approached Rose's nest, Rose spun around and ran under the spider, leaving him to hastily try to turn around in the tunnel. With all the strength she'd been developing from lifting and carrying, she was in better shape physically then she usually was. Running as quickly as she could, Rose could only glance into every room she passed, there were no doors down here. She sprinted, slipping down a corner that she took to fast, but recovering and taking off again. She could feel in the floor that the huge grey spider was chasing her, although she dared not look back and see how close he was. Rose flung herself around another turn and came to a dead stop. Her feet skidded, and she landed in a crouch. Twisp was looking down at her, blocking her path with his legs crouched low as well.

"You did not take the chance I gave. I do not envy your fate, but I did not cause it." Twisp said in what sounded like an actually distraught voice. Rose did not care to listen, like a mad woman, she screamed and launched herself at him, her shoulder managed to hit his abdomen, and she heard something crack. It was not her shoulder. She fell to the floor, slightly stunned at the impact on his casing, which apparently not impervious to blunt force.

A long grey-white spurt of fluid splattered across her back, Rose struggled, trying to tear her way free, but she only got caught more in the cottony web. As she had seen spiders do a million times on Earth, the grey legs grabbed her up and spun her around, coating everything. A tiny hole was left near her mouth, although if that was on accident or purpose, she wasn't sure. With only a hole as thick as a pencil to breath through, Rose began to feel light headed after a few minutes, a few minutes after that, she passed out.